


Archaic Disaccord

by Rellanka



Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [8]
Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: M/M, Mild Spoilers for FF7 Remake, outside pov, slight angst, sort-of fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23703943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rellanka/pseuds/Rellanka
Summary: Madam M's POV of the whole thing.
Relationships: Andrea Rhodea/Cloud Strife
Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697269
Comments: 11
Kudos: 136





	Archaic Disaccord

**Author's Note:**

> I swear to you, while I actually do like Genesis and Angeal (and of course Sephiroth), the Trio are 1000x more interesting to me as a group than the three First Classes ever managed to be (as a group). Seriously. I hope more fic comes of them. (Especially if those fics also contain Andrea/Cloud.) 
> 
> Note that Cloud is gender fluid and thinks of herself as a female while wearing feminine clothing, but Madam M is unaware of that at the moment and so addresses Cloud with singularly male terms. If she knew about it, she would address Cloud properly.

Madam M’s name had been lost to the public a long time ago, and she had spent so much time and effort reinventing herself into her Madam M persona that she herself had almost forgotten what her real name was. She didn’t think of herself by any other name other than Madam M, anymore. Even in her own head she referred to herself by her hard-earned title. 

All three of them had had to do things like that, while making their way to the top. They’d had to make concessions, large and small, to claw their ways out of the gutters and into pomp and glamor of what stood for success in this rotting, putrid town. 

Madam M hated it. She hated this town, she hated a majority of her customers, and most of all she **despised** Don Corneo. That perverted, vile little snake had had all three of them firmly under his thumb ever since the very beginning. Since when he’d spotted three struggling, hard-working hopeful entrepreneurs and lured them into a web that they had never been free of again. 

They’d all suffered from various indignities for it, not that Madam M cared overly much about the other two. She didn’t; she couldn’t; the only way you stayed alive very long in Wall Market was if you cared only for yourself. 

But even if the three of them didn’t care for one another, and fought more often than they got along; there was a certain sort of shared history between them. A certain sort of need to support each other when push came to shove. There were too many people like they had been in this city; hungry and desperate and willing to do anything to survive. Without a united front, it would have been all too easy for someone to replace them at the top of the pile. Together, they were untouchable. Apart, it was likely that someone might be able to tear them down. 

Which is why Andrea’s most recent preoccupation was making her worried. 

“He’s going to get us all killed.” Madam M snapped to Sam one day as they watched Andrea… _fawn_ , there was really no other word for it, all over Cloud Strife. 

Sam let out a deep sigh from where he stood beside her. “A man’s got a right to be a little distracted by a pretty face every once and awhile, Madam. Besides, it’s Andrea. He’s smart. Has too much sense to let himself be sidetracked for long.” 

And for all the time Madam M had known Andrea, this had been true. A consummate showman who appeared to give all of himself to his audience with every show he performed in, in truth he always held part of himself away from the crowd. He never really let anyone in, not even her and Sam. And he almost _never_ showed honest interest for anyone that crossed his path. He dealt with others as if they were a part of his forever ongoing show without ever really engaging with them at all. In fact, he would have been thought of as cold by even those who worked for him if it weren’t for the way he did his best to look out for his Honeybee girls and boys as best as he could. 

He’d never, ever acted like _this_ for anyone for as long as Madam M had known him. He’d flirted and teased and fucked, sure. He’d done plenty of that. But he’d never really looked at those people, not the way that he was looking at Cloud right now. 

As if he’d found someone precious, and beautiful, and infinitely surprising. As if he’d found someone he enjoyed spending time with. As if he’d found someone he was starting to _feel_ things for.

Madam M had known Andrea for decades, she’d seethed in jealousy as the man managed to climb even higher than she and Sam, she’d experienced the growth and furthering moral decay of Wall Market alongside him. There were a few notable exceptions, but generally she’d never really been afraid of him before. Or to be more accurate, she’d never been afraid of the fallout from the choices he might be making. Until now.

“Are you so sure? Have you really seen Andrea look at someone like _that_ before?” She snapped, gesturing to where Cloud was… alright, pretty adorably trying and failing to copy the dance moves that Andrea was showing him. With the dress and the mask she might not have recognized the mercenary if she hadn’t been told that Andrea was with him. She didn’t even know how Andrea had managed to talk Cloud into helping with one of his shows again; she thinks it had something to do with one of the Shinra executives scheduled to attend. But whatever the reason, there was no real excuse for the soft fondness in Andrea’s eyes as he watched the mercenary trip over his own feet. 

Andrea shouldn’t even be practicing with the boy right now. He should be attending the scheduled meeting the three of them had set up **months** ago. To say that both she and Sam had been surprised to find out that Andrea had forgotten the meeting, a beforehand unthinkable idea with how carefully he kept to his tightly-controlled schedule, was an understatement. They’d been more than surprised; they’d been curious. 

Which led them to being _here_. Watching _this_.

Sam huffed, but knowing him as she did, she could detect the faint undertone of concern in the man’s voice as he spoke, “That still doesn’t mean that Andrea won’t cut him loose when the time comes. Cloud’s a decent sort, don’t get me wrong. But Andrea isn’t going to get himself hung by tangling himself in that man’s problems.” 

“For once, I actually hope you’re right.” Madam M snapped. She watched them continue their practice, watching the gentle yet possessive way Andrea laid his hands on Cloud to direct his movements. The unselfconscious way that Andrea reached out to touch Cloud, the easy way that the ex-Soldier accepted those touches gave away that he and Andrea had gotten quite close during the mercenary's stay at the Honey Bee Inn. She commented almost to herself, “That man- alright, so he’s a good soul, I’ll give you that. One of those people that should never be near Wall Market, because even if you’re strong enough that you survived through pure hell, this town is a special layer of it that can destroy even the hardiest of souls. If he didn’t come attached with problems that none of us need, I might even be happy for Andrea; providing that Cloud proved he could survive in this town. But he **does** come with problems, and they **will** destroy us all if we’re not careful.” 

Sam growled with his own frustration, sending her a dark look, “Well then, what do you suggest that we do about this, Madam?” 

Nothing. 

There was really nothing they _could_ do. 

She knew Andrea, and she knew what the man was like when he’d found something he wanted to keep. He was terrifying. A force of nature that smiled at you sweetly while neatly destroying everything you loved while your attention was directed to the pop and sparkle he set up to distract you. He swept in and suddenly everything was gone. 

He’d never acted like that about a person before. 

Until now. 

Until somehow, Cloud Strife had managed to become the one man that Andrea seemed unable to turn away from.

“I don’t know.” Madam M admitted to Sam, staring down at Andrea and Cloud and ignoring the startled look that Sam shot her. She’d never admitted anything like that before, not vocally. 

But she truly **didn’t** know what she could do to keep Andrea from falling in love with this particular albatross, when it looked like he was halfway there already. 

All she could do was brace herself fallout and hope that she was still standing by the time everything was over.

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, Andrea is falling in love and Madam M is NOT having it. She might like Cloud as a person, but she's not going to risk her neck for him. Unfortunately, Andrea doesn't really care that much about what she thinks of his romantic choices. 
> 
> Next part of this series will come tomorrow in a slight drabble continuation occurring pretty directly after this and would have been connected to this one, but didn't quite fit because of a POV change. But I wanted to keep it in because it's a slice of Andrea/Cloud cuteness.


End file.
